Joseph Quinn’s horror spinoff A Quiet Place: Day One is a sleeper streaming hit on Paramount+. Since he got his breakout role as Eddie Munson in Stranger Things’ fourth season, Quinn has become a prolific movie star with a prominent role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a four-film commitment to playing George Harrison.
Before Stranger Things ended, some fans were theorizing (or, at least, desperately hoping) that Eddie would reappear as Vecna’s vampiric lieutenant Kas the Betrayer in season 5. Ultimately, that didn’t happen (because it would make a mockery of his perfect sendoff in season 4), but he did return to the horror genre for a subversively tender prequel to A Quiet Place.
A Quiet Place: Day One Was A Sleeper Hit At The Box Office
A Quiet Place: Day One grossed $261 million at the worldwide box office. For a spinoff that doesn’t feature any of the existing main cast members, in a world where Solo: A Star Wars Story and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga both tanked at the box office, that’s pretty impressive. It’s less than the previous two films, but it pulled in a decent profit.
One of the things holding back the prequel was its marketing. The trailers were appropriately exhilarating, but they advertised a very different movie. The marketing for A Quiet Place: Day One made it look like a non-stop white-knuckle thrill-ride. But, in the hands of Pig director Michael Sarnoski, A Quiet Place: Day One is more of a silent love story than a post-apocalyptic thriller.
A Quiet Place: Day One Delivers An Unexpectedly Tender Post-Apocalyptic Thriller
A Quiet Place: Day One stars Lupita Nyong’o as a terminally ill woman named Sam who, during a trip to New York City, gets caught up in the chaos of the franchise’s signature alien invasion. The first act has plenty of the chaotic blockbuster spectacle you’re expecting: the car crashes, the frightened crowds, the military intervention. But after that, it takes a more sobering turn.
The New Yorkers figure out early on that the aliens make up for their lack of sight with an acute sense of hearing, so they all stay quiet and hide away from the carnage on the streets. At this point, A Quiet Place: Day One morphs into the movie that Sarnoski really wanted to make: a character-driven relationship drama set against a bleak post-apocalyptic backdrop.
Quinn plays Eric, a law student who joins forces with Sam to survive the invasion. While Eric is terrified for his life, Sam is at peace with her fate, since she’s doomed to die an early death whether there are invading aliens around or not. So, A Quiet Place: Day One isn’t about surviving the apocalypse; it’s a tender Fault in Our Stars-style bucket-list love story.